Odyssey Of The Mind

Poquoson Students Carry On Tradition Of Success

April 23, 1995|By GLENN GASLIN Daily Press

POQUOSON — An intense cerebral contest called Odyssey of the Mind puts long-term planning, theatrics, problem-solving, endurance, physics, creativity and humor to the test. Competitions draw quick-witted combatants from schools around the world, and the kids from Poquoson keep winning and winning and winning. This is the story of one elementary school team's season.

The clock says it's always recess.

Time stays put between 2 and 2:30 p.m. in the world of Tom Fairchild's imagination.

But his timepiece exists only on the face of a paper plate, drawn in crayon by the 11-year-old Poquoson Elementary School student.

He also decorated the plate with 3-D peace signs, a squiggly black triangle and an explanation:

"On my clock I put it so there is only recess. Also, the peace sign symbolises the amount of peace in the world. The more detail there is, the more peace. The black is the TWYLIGHT ZONE."

The clock was a test, one in a series that took several hours and squeezed abstract creations and silly remarks from 49 other Poquoson students.

After rounds and rounds of rapid-fire witticisms and pencil-and-paper problem solving, only 28 kids made the cut.

Only four teams of seven would represent the school in the unique mental olympics called Odyssey of the Mind.

In Poquoson, that means being chosen to carry on an intellectual dynasty, to follow years of national success for creative pursuits.

It means spending weekends and evenings in garages and basements with parents who know more about Odyssey of the Mind than their kids.

It means living in the shadow of the sign on Wythe Creek Road that reads, "Poquoson High School, Odyssey of the Mind, World Champions, 1993."

Tom Fairchild's clock put him there, where he and six others would spend most of this school year building and dreaming and drilling at imaginary problems.

They landed in a place where, if you look at the world the right way, it's always recess.

Two months later, the clock hasn't moved.

On the Friday before Christmas break, Tom, Jessica, Nick, Steve, Maggie, Rusty and Trip stay after hours at Poquoson Elementary School to create a fictional species of fish.

He's got this stuff down. He's been doing this for two years. Plus his sister Amy did it.

Oh, and his mom's the coach.

Ann Fairchild stands in front of their table and presides over the banter, her second year leading a team like this.

She's an environmental engineer by training, a puzzle fan (her minivan license plate reads "QZX JKV," the least common letters in the alphabet, in order of disuse). She coaches because her kids Tom and Amy got into Odyssey of the Mind.

"You guys always try to go for the jokes," she says, playing on their strengths. "Try it!"

She prods and pushes the team toward some sort of answer. That's her job, to direct the creative energy, careful not to offer solutions.

The creature they debate is a tiny part of a problem called Scientific Safari, their long-term project for OM (they call Odyssey of the Mind "OM," pronounced unmeditatively: oh-em).

Eventually these seven will perform an elaborate sketch, complete with costumes, dialogue, some sort of vehicle and a brand-new species.

Competing Scientific Safari teams have the same guidelines, established by the Odyssey of the Mind Association, based in New Jersey. The ultimate winner will have the most thorough and creative performance, the one sticking to the most of the hundreds of details.

And they will, no doubt, have spent at least a few hours talking about imaginary animals.

Three other Poquoson elementary teams work on different problems.

One writes and performs a Vaudeville-style show. Another builds small structures out of super-light balsa wood meant to hold hundreds of pounds of metal. Seven more kids create a time machine and parallel worlds.

The middle and high schools have similar teams. So do hundreds more in Virginia, and thousands more kindergarten through college teams the world over.

At the regional competition, Ann's team will meet others working just as hard, just as often, just as clever and fast. Beyond that, the State meet. And then, World. If tradition holds, a Poquoson team will make it there.